Website Evaluation Blog

     

   

       I thought this assignment was well put together and easily understood. I knew exactly what each section was asking from me and how to complete it correctly. I liked how the worksheet gave us what to look for specifically. I have never evaluated a website before so it was super helpful. Now when I am looking for websites to use in my classroom, I will know what to look out for to decide if I should use it or not. I enjoyed completing this assignment, because it gave me the opportunity to expand my technological resources for my future classroom. The website I chose to use is something I could see myself using when I am a teacher. The more we do in this class, the more confident I am feeling about using technology in my classroom.

Blog About a Blog

http://www.aspecialsparkle.com/2013/07/tips-for-new-special-education-teachers.html
       In this post I will look into and discuss about another education blog I have found. This blog is super great. There are many things I love and a few things I might change. Not going to lie, this blog first attracted me so much because of it's bright colors and cute title. After looking at it more, I realized it was more than just a pretty face. The first thing you see on this blog, is a list of tips for special education teachers. As a hopeful special education teacher, this really drew me in. This blog has so many different great resources. The subtitle for it is "a collaborative special education blog", meaning there are several different authors and experiences working together to create it. The first blog I looked at was Teaching Special Thinkers. I really loved this title. The teacher that wrote this teaches students with autism in kindergarten through second grade. This particular blog is very neat and well organized. It is easy to use and navigate. She has a ton of great resources for every subject and even
some for teaching planning in general. She tells a little bit about herself and even gives a way for us readers to contact her. The next author I looked at has a blog called Reading Towards the Stars. In my placement I have been working a lot with struggling readers, so I knew it would be helpful for now as well as in my future classroom. The author's name is Andrea Crawford and she is a reading specialist. I believe she is a very reliable resources. She has a tab for "freebies" that I looked at. Most of the resources I looked at where super useful and gave me ideas for helping those struggling readers.
     When looking at the actual blog, A Special Sparkle, there are a few things I see that I might change. First, it's a little bit overwhelming. I have hard time, when looking at the front page, finding anything with ease. There is just a lot going on. Another thing I might add or change, is a way to contact each specific author without having to go to their blog. Most, if not all of my concerns for this blog are things that don't really need to be changed and aren't really interfering with the success of the blog. I just think I would have liked it that much more if these things were different. 

Course Expectations

I am looking forward to learning a lot in this class. I know quite a bit about the basics of technology, but there is a lot of stuff that I don't have to use everyday that I don't know much about. We are definitely becoming a primary technological society and I know that will be true in my future classroom too. I hope to learn about some programs and devices that could be helpful in a special education classroom. One thing I have seen a lot of from being in the classroom a little, is that smart boards are being used more and more. I would really love to know more about them and how to use them. There are so many different things they can do as a resource in the classroom. I really am just interested in finding things that can help make my classroom more interactive and engaging.